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ATTENTION: You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to it. If you'd like to remove yourself from this mailing list, please see the instructions at the end of this newsletter. Our subscriber list is NOT made available to other companies or individuals. We value every subscriber and respect your privacy. PLEASE excuse the advertisement paragraph
you'll see at the top of this Newsletter. Because I have a "free"
service with the Mail List company (Topica), they insert that
ad to help them pay for the service. Sorry for the little commercialism. 1. Welcome from the Coach I've recently become aware how important aligning the ball with your shooting eye and the target is. It came to my attention when I was watching some kids shoot and analyzing why they were missing off line so much. I noticed that many of them were not getting the ball, eye and target in the same line until late in the "setting" of the ball. They might bring it up from the right more in line with the shoulder or the right ear (I'm speaking of right-handers). Then I looked at my own shot and saw that I align the ball very early, about as early as possible, and I stay aligned throughout the Setting, Release and Follow Through motions. That, I realized, was why my shots are so accurate! When I miss, it's usually a bit long or short , not often right or left. Direction I have mastered, and a big part of that is how long I set the ball. The Free Throw and Set Shot can have a very long setting, from approximately the stomach area all the way through the shot motion. For standing Jump shots and shots off the dribble, I'll get the ball aligned with my eye and basket when the ball is around shoulder height, as I bring it up to my Set Point from the triple threat position. If I receive the ball to shoot (Catch-and-shoot), then I try to do a "dipping" motion to establish alignment. If I'm wide open, the dip will be fairly long. If I have to shoot quickly, I'll dip as much as I can. The idea of NOT dipping to save time, which some coaches advocate, is a mistake, in my opinion. Dipping is required to establish a connection with the target line, which makes shots more accurate. If you bypass the dip and try to catch it in the Set Point to shoot quickly, good luck. The shot will not be well aligned. Try it both ways and you be the judge. Catch the ball and dip and shoot and then don't dip and shoot. Which is more stable and more accurate? Maybe if you don't have time to dip you should pass off to someone who does. ------------------------------------------------------------ I happened to see part of the girls' game at the McDonald's All Star Competition. It was high energy and amazing athletes, as was the boys' game. (I saw only a small part of the boys' game.) However, the outside shooting for both teams of women was pretty shaky. What struck me was a comment made by the
TV commentators late in the first half of the girls' game. It
was noted that the teams' Field Goal shooting to that point was
only about 20%! When one of them asked another why that was,
the answer given was that, A THIRD REASON Even though these are the "All Stars," the way they shoot wasn't effective. 20% from the floor is very poor, and many of the shots they DID make were layups and close-in jumpers and bank shots. The missed free throws reveal the problem. If tighter defense could explain (sometimes) the missed outside jumpers and set shots, it doesn't explain 50, 60, 70% free throwing. How many times, in both the boys and girls games (and in the NCAA games and the NBA) do you see one-out-of-two performances at the line. IT'S TECHNIQUE, NOT MENTAL There are some excellent shooters in these
"cream of the crop" teams, yes, but too many of the
players are doing what I call guessing when they put up their
shots with variable and unpredictable strokes. And the result
is what you see, a lot of missed shots. Though I taped the games of Michigan State vs. Tennessee and Baylor vs. LSU, I hadn't seen the games when I read the paper the following morning. I saw that Michigan State and Baylor had both accomplished upsets, coming from 16 and 15 points behind respectively. I looked at the stats to see if I could tell from them what happened. WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE? Baylor 68, LSU 57: In the Baylor-LSU game, the field goal percentages were 43 and 41% respectively, also a wash. Rebounds were a dead heat, 31 each. Three point shots were pretty much even, at 2 for 9 and 3 for 10 respectively. Turnovers were even, 14 apiece, and LSU had an edge in blocked shots, 4 to 1 and in steals, 10 to 8. But again, free throw shooting was the difference. Baylor took 21 free throws vs. 13 for LSU, and made 18 (86%) vs. only 8 for LSU (62%). That was a 10-point spread in free throws made, and the game was won by 11. It was by getting more free throws AND making a high percentage of them. The paper had this description of the end of this game, "Not even national player of the year Seimone Augustus could save LSU, which got to within six in the final 90 seconds, then missed two shots, bricked a free throw and turned the ball over on its last four possessions." FREE THROWS ARE AN INDICATOR OF SHOOTING
PROWESS 70% USED TO BE CONSIDERED MEDIOCRE OH, WERE THERE A CATEGORY FOR CLOSE-IN
SHOTS, DUNKS AND LAYUPS! ------------------------------------------------------------ Congratulations to the Baylor Bears for their great win!!! It's a testament to Coach Mulkey-Robertson and her staff and the amazing and talented players. Michigan State had a tremendous season, too, and Coach McCallie and her staff and players deserve our praise for their accomplishments. Any idea that there is one "winner" and the rest are all "losers" is ridiculous. They're all winners to me. Baylor just had too much inside and outside game for Michigan State. With Niemann getting hot, plus the amazing inside presence and scoring of Young and Blackmon (48 points, 16 rebounds), plus general team balance, Baylor was too tough. The Spartans started slowly and got down by 14-15 points and then didn't have the outside shooting to catch up to the relentless Bears. The shooting of MSU's biggest hope, Bowen, was shaky at first, though she started to get it going later, but she and Haynie were most of the Spartan scoring and it wasn't nearly enough. The Spartans just didn't have the outside shooting to stay in the game offensively with such a powerful opponent that had both the inside game and outside shooting. ------------------------------------------------------------ Congratulations to the North Carolina Tar Heels for their great season and winning the national championship!!! It was richly deserved by Coach Williams and his staff and the hard work and talent of their awesome team. Coach Weber and the Illinois coaching staff and team had a fantastic season, too, and deserve high praise for their accomplishment! While I'm talking about shooting percentages and what I feel isn't working, Illinois lost to North Carolina in a great game for the NCAA Men's Championship. The play was fierce. These are amazing athletes in incredible shape and beautifully coached. The defenses were tenacious, especially North Carolina's in the first half. I thought it was going to be a blow out. But in the second half, somehow the "fighting" Illini came back, North Carolina "blinked" a little, and the score was even tied a couple of times. SHOOTING FAILED THE ILLINI This great team's super athletes could make 3's at times in this game and for the season, I'm sure, but that kind of shooting is streaky, at best, and it failed them at the worst possible time. In this game against the powerful Tar Heels they couldn't afford to be streaky. ELEVATING BEFORE SHOOTING IS A COOL IDEA
BUT NOT PRACTICAL! I know defenses are incredibly tight these days, and without effective picks and screens there isn't much separation before a shot. But to jump and hesitate before shooting is just very very difficult to pull off, especially under great pressure. Instead, I recommend shooting quickly, on the way up, when you have separation. Also, if you "catch" the leg energy and shoot quickly, the angle of your shots will be much higher, thus harder to block. Think "quick and early" as you go to shoot and watch the beautiful arch you get and the feeling of effortless control. It also seems to me that a great way to get open, setting picks and screens, is a lost art. A well-set pick or screen will get someone open for a shot, either the screener or the screenee (or someone else as the defense tries to adjust). But most picks and screens these days are tentative and allow the defender to slip away from them quite easily. When I played in college, I learned to set the screen or pick strongly and then, as soon as contact was made, to roll to the basket. It got someone open (or ahead of the defense moving toward the basket) every time. Perhaps a look at this part of the game will reveal ways to get shots off even when the defenses are very tough. ------------------------------------------------------------ ( I might have included this testimonial from a couple years ago already, but I just re-read it and it's a great story. I thought you would enjoy it, even it you saw it before.) "Hi Tom, Just wanted to give you
a quick update on how the Swish method is working for us.... "I made a little challenge with two
of them -- they shoot 20 free throws each, and I have to beat
their combined total on the 40 free throws that I would then
shoot. If I won, they would have to watch the video, and at
least try to implement some of the changes they see in it. Oh
... the kicker to this challenge? The first set of 20 FT's I
shot would be done left-handed (I'm a natural right-hander),
and the second set would be right-handed, but blindfolded. I
still think I had the advantage -- I've been working on the method
for myself ever since I got the video -- my FT percentage (right-handed)
was around 77% before I started working on my shot....now it's
around 94%. ------------------------------------------------------------ DIRECTION -- HOW YOU CAN COACH YOURSELF! Last month I talked about Trajectory and how you can learn to control the Height (and Distance) of your shots. Now let's focus on how you can improve Direction. When you have both Distance and Direction figured out, you will start to make a lot of your shots! What are the factors of Direction? What things determine it? If you look at your body and the skill of shooting a basketball, you see you have a basket (the target), a ball, and your body to propel the ball. Direction is determined by these physical components: · Wrist and hand (count the fingers
as part of the hand) The Release, using arm, wrist and hand, is the DELIVERY SYSTEM. It determines direction and, by varying the angle of the shot, the height and distance. What's usually lumped together and called "The Legs" -- the lower and middle body muscles -- is the main power source. The wrist and hand can be used actively to power and control the ball some, or they can be relaxed and not affect power. Some of the key factors of Direction: Alignment is critical. Take some shots and align the ball with eye and basket as you shoot and observe the resulting control of direction. Do you feel "connected" with the target, having your eye right there in line. Then align your shot with a Set Point that is NOT aligned with your eye and see what happens and what it feels like. Then align with the ear or your shoulder and try to put the ball into a basket over and over. I think you'll feel it's an "iffy" proposition now because you're not in line with what you are seeing. (A competitive dart thrower wouldn't THINK of shooting in line with the shoulder, but basketball players do ... and most of them are not good shooters.) Let what's called the legs provide the major power, a stable energy source. It's actually the legs, hips and pelvis working together, the biggest muscles in your body. Shoot that way, early in the motion for the most power, and see how it feels. Is shooting easier? What happens to the trajectory when you shoot early in the leg action. Then don't use the leg power and shoot instead with all or mostly the Release muscles of the upper body, and see how accurate and stable that is. (You could jump hard and shoot at the top of the jump to accomplish this, or just not do much with the legs and shoot with the upper body.) The Release gets the ball going to the target. Note how the arm-straightening motion can provide all the power for the Release, and the wrist and hand can just keep the ball on line. Check out the alternative way, getting the wrist and hand active in powering the shot, and see how that feels and works. I think you'll see the shots flatten and get less predictable. MY SUGGESTIONS ARE: REMEMBER TO PLAY You'll find you're gaining more and more control of direction. If you can do these "off-line" things well then, when you go for the basket, you'll find you can miss by ~4-5 inches left or right and still make the shots. It's a HUGE target. When you can perform a skill like shooting and all its variations, you'll have a level of Mastery that will serve you well. WHEN YOU HAVE CONTROL, YOU HAVE POSSIBILITIES ------------------------------------------------------------ I invite you to bookmark my Website (http://www.swish22.com) so you can go there easily to catch my latest comments on shooting. You can read about my DVD/video there (including endorsements, testimonials, reviews and an overview of the video), my coaching, and the many articles on shooting I've written. You can see video clips and the new "Flash" clips, plus archived back issues of this Newsletter and, of course, subscribe, if you're not already getting this on a regular basis. Please tell others about this newsletter, my site, and my DVD and video. Forward the newsletter to them and suggest they read it and the many archived issues. The Dec. '04 issue indexes the prior 67 issues by Category, so it's easier to jump around and read what interests you from that Newsletter. Send your friends the URL (http://www.swish22.com) and let them know there's a proven method for powerful shooting. This great game of ours deserves a Renaissance in shooting! Some direct links to my webpage: ------------------------------------------------------------ Clinics are beginning to be planned right now for spring, summer and fall. As you look forward to the off season, if you wish to have me do clinics or camps in your area, contact me: Email: Tom@swish22.com. We would need at least 60-65 kids to make a trip possible (in half-day clinics, fewer if two-day camps) with 24 max. per session. I can't get everywhere, so I will have to limit my travel to those areas who's "leaders" first come up with viable plans. I can send you my Guidelines and Pricing Structure. For the latest on my schedule, keep returning
to this page: Clinics
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